Honest Smile
by BlackRoseDragon44
Summary: Souma and his friends successfully graduated from Totsuki Academy, but now what? Everyone has to part ways and discover the world for themselves. Souma and Megumi promise to meet each other again one day, but will the reunion go smoothly as expected? SouMegu, hinted SouEri (Sorry,but I actually suck at summaries.)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I'm new to this fandom, so please excuse me for not being very familiar with the characters yet. As for the pairing, I'm SouMegu trash, so... mostly because SouEri didn't get much development yet and I don't change pairings that easily (despite the manga practically yelling SouEri is on the way!).**

 **Please enjoy.**

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"Well, looks like we actually graduated from this freaking school," Souma said, holding his certificate with a significant grin on his face. He would never admit it, but he was tremendously happy that he had successfully passed Totsuki with all of his friends by his side. Fumio was happy that the Polar Star dorm got a little of its glory back from the time of Dojima Gin and Saiba Joichirou.

"And you know what it means... PARTY at the Polar Star dorm!" Yuki exclaimed happily already dragging Ryoko and Marui towards the white building, today especially, glistering in the sunlight. Megumi and the others just laughed and followed lead.

"Congratulations on passing!" Was shouted as the wooden door opened and a naked with an apron covered Satoshi greeted them with a wide smirk.

"Isshiki-senpai! What brings you here?" All shouted in unison. None of them had seen nor heard anything from Satoshi, since he graduated last year and disappeared somewhere abroad, improving his cooking skills to another level, which the rest could only dream of, well, at least for now.

"Of course I would come back to your graduation! And of course I had to check on Fumio-san if she was still alive," Satoshi joked, earning an evil glare from the housekeeper herself. However, soon the partying began and several bottles of rice juice were opened and emptied.

Soon the sun set and all were stuffing their stomach with delicious food, which all of them prepared together. Megumi, however, was leaning on the rail of the balcony and counting the stars, which slowly appeared one by one on the vast dark skyline.

 _"_ _I have to tell him tonight!"_

"Oi, Tadokoro, what are you doing here all alone?" Souma called, joining her star watching. Megumi flinched in surprise and blushed heavily as she saw the redhead standing so close to her.

"Um, just remembering how much fun we had here despite the hardships we had to encounter on the way," Megumi said, of course not telling him her intention on confessing to him that night. Souma chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, that were some rough three years, huh? But we made it through alive. We are actually among the 10% that passed this culinary school. But what I actually wanted to ask was...Tadokoro, how does your path look like from here? I know I'm going back to Yukihira. Pops said he would be back now and re-open the restaurant for awhile, although he did say it was just temporary. Only God knows what's going on in that twisted mind of his."

"I'm not really certain yet. I'll definitely go back and see how things are back home and help out a little. But then... I will see how far my cooking abilities can get me. I'll probably go somewhere abroad like Isshiki-senpai."

"Sounds like a plan, though you must promise me to stop at Yukihira sometime and try my new recipes," Souma said, smiling widely at the bluenette. Megumi just shivered at the thought of eating something like squid in honey ever again. But she giggled nevertheless, Souma-kun was just Souma-kun and she was glad that he wouldn't change that easily.

Souma was always there for her, protecting her and helping her out when she needed him the most. He made her smile a lot and helped her develop confidence in her cooking. Souma was in Megumi's eyes simply amazing. His will to fight and the best never wavered and he always aimed to come out on top, almost frequently challenging Akira and many other talented cooks. And without realizing it, she fell in love with someone who was oblivious to this kind of things. But Megumi knew that if she wouldn't say it tonight, she might never get the chance to say it actually out loud for Souma to hear.

"S-Souma-kun!"

"Heh? What is it, Tadokoro?"

"I-I need to tell you something, I have always lo-"

"Nakiri! Arato! Nice timing, I was just about to give you a call to come over!" Souma shouted loudly as he saw the blonde and her friend arriving at the Polar Star dorm. He waved at them from the balcony, smiling, which of course caused Erina to blush and show her tsundere side once again.

"Come on, Tadokoro, I want Nakiri to taste my cooking. I want the 'God's Tongue' to finally admit my food is delicious."

"Y-Yes, I will be right down. You just go ahead, Souma-kun," Megumi replied, biting her lip as she watched Souma run down into the kitchen to prepare everything. As she was sure he was out of sight, Megumi felt her eyes water and her whole body tremble.

"I did see that coming, right? So why...?" Megumi whispered as big drops of salty tears rolled down her cheeks. The bluenette knew that Souma-kun would never have romantic feelings for someone as timid and self-conscious like her. She noticed subtle hints that the redhead was developing a certain amount of affection towards Erina. Megumi realized from the beginning of the second year that she wasn't the girl for Souma. But it didn't matter. As long as she was allowed to be Souma-kun's friend, she would be happy. Souma was someone really special in Megumi's opinion and whoever his life partner would be she would always support him when he needed it.

"It's okay, it just wasn't meant to be," Megumi said as she wiped away her tears and with a content smile walked down the kitchen, where Souma was already giving the dish its finishing touch. The bluenette couldn't help but smile at how focused he was whenever he was cooking. Yes, it didn't matter that her feelings would stay unrequited. As long as she could stay close to him, she was okay. She then just mentally slapped herself for being so overemotional about this issue. There was no reason to.

"Dig in before it gets cold!" Souma said, placing two plates in front of Erina and Hisako. Megumi could smell the fragrance enter her nostrils. She could feel the saliva gathering in her mouth, so good it smelled. And the visual beauty of the dish couldn't be dismissed either.

"Oh, Ode to Zuni roasted chicken, huh? Interesting choice, Yukihira-kun," Hisako admitted, still inspecting the dish, since it looked quite different from how an Ode to Zuni roasted chicken is supposed to look like. He definitely added something to strengthen the smell and probably also the flavour. However, there was something else Hisako couldn't quite figure out.

"Let's give it a try then, but I don't think it will please my palate," Erina said, blushing a little, since she would never admit in her deepest dreams that she actually thought the dish looked stunning. Both Hisako and Erina cupped a little of the dish with their spoons and bit in, chewing to savour the flavour.

"What's _this_ flavour-?" Hisako gasped in shock a very pleased smile on her lips. Her cheeks were flushed and she had her eyes closed in pure bliss. This kind of reaction was to be expected from Souma's dish.

"The meat is so tender it dissolves as soon as I bite in it! The seasoning matches perfectly with the chicken and herbs, oh, the herbs are in perfect harmony, none overwhelming the other so you can enjoy various flavours at once!"

"Good work, Souma-kun!" Megumi cheered, smiling happily. Souma smiled too, giving her a thumbs up. Then all the attention turned to the bearer of the God's Tongue. Her cheeks were in a light tint of pink as she moaned after swallowing. She didn't look any different from Hisako.

"Well, Nakiri, how's my dish?"

"I guess, it should have been obvious that the dish wouldn't be a total disaster, since no alumnus of Totsuki would prepare a lousy dish. The choice of the dish wasn't bad either, so I-I g-g-guess it wasn't t-that b-bad," Erina finally stuttered out. All people's eyes present widened in shock, since they would have never believed the Nakiri Erina would admit and accept Yukihira Souma's food.

"Hmm... Nakiri..."

"W-W-What is it, Yukihira-kun?"

"Just you wait I'll make you say it's delicious. One day I will make it so you don't have another choice!" Souma exclaimed, the determination glinting in his eyes. Megumi was taken aback a little. Souma-kun rarely ever showed this side of him when he wasn't currently in a Shokugeki.

"Y-You wish!" Erina countered, fuming angrily and embarrassed. Megumi watched her two friends continue to drabble and a smile bloomed on her face once again. So this was what Souma-kun needed. Souma-kun needed someone who would constantly challenge him, to force him to reach higher places, where his cooking could improve.

 _"_ _Yeah, this is how it's supposed to be."_

The partying continued afterwards, more and more bottles of rice juice were opened and more and more delicious food (expect Souma's experiments) was served. All of the graduates realized that this would be their last night at the Polar Star Dormitory, so the celebrated until sunrise. Everyone had already packed their suitcases and prepared for departure. One by one took the train, got picked up by their parents or took a taxi to the nearby airport.

"Yukihira! I swear to my Mezzaluna that I'll come back and defeat you in a Shokugeki properly!" Aldini Takumi shouted as the car was driving away. He had regained his Mezzaluna by on unofficial Shokugeki with Souma. Takumi had improved greatly and it was only a matter of time, when he would catch up with Souma, Akira and the rest of the top chefs of the Academy.

"I look forward to it!"

Now everyone was gone and Souma and Megumi were heading for the station, since both of them would take the train home. They both chatted about old times, how the training camp almost mentally and physically murdered them and also about their first classes together with Chapelle-sensei and the likes.

"I guess, Tadokoro, this means goodbye, at least for now," Souma said, patting her encouragingly on the back as Megumi's train arrived. Megumi smiled and nodded.

"We'll definitely see each other again. So until then Souma-kun!"

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 _REVIEW_

 **Well, I hope it wasn't a total disaster. If you have any suggestions to improve this, please let me know. And I know it was quite random to add Takumi at the end, but I just find it amusing how he always yells at Souma. Also, I didn't mention any Elite Ten seats, since I thought it was quite a preference manner and I wouldn't probably get the seats right.**

 **So until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you a lot for the reviews, follows, and favs. Glad it wasn't utter trash as I thought.**

 **Okay, second chapter is up! Enjoy.**

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 _3 years later..._

It was the time of the week again. The sound of spoons clinking and crackling fire of the stove filled the diner as curious eyes were glued on Souma and Joichirou Yukihira. Whispers were exchanged, betting on one of the currently cooking chefs.

Yes, it was another cook-off between Souma and his father.

"Well, Souma, wouldn't this be your 500th loss already?" Joichirou teased, grinning widely at his son. Souma face just darkened and pointed a finger at the man in front of him. He knew his father was merely joking, despite that every time he reminded Souma of his loss streak his blood would begin to boil.

"This is the 498th match, so don't make up numbers, old man!"

"Hah, like it would make any difference!" Joichirou continued, giving his dish the finishing touches. Souma just growled in annoyance and began finishing up as well. The judge for that day wasn't randomly picked, actually it never was. For that day the judge would be no other than... wait... Nakiri Alice?!

"What?! What the hell is Nakiri no. 2 doing here?!" Souma said in shock as he saw Alice enter with Ryou into the Yukihira diner. The last time Souma saw or even spoke to Alice was the day before everyone left Totsuki. He vaguely remembered her saying she was heading right back to Denmark or something of that sort.

"Hey, who are you calling Nakiri no. 2! Have a little respect, tell him Ryou!" Alice whined, pushing her 'aide' to settle things straight with Souma.

"EHhm, have respect for milady... yeah."

"You're such a useless aide! I will do the talking myself from now on!" Alice said, pushing Ryou to the side again to face Souma properly. She had a devilish grin on her face and Souma wasn't sure if he shouldn't be running for his life now.

"Shouldn't you be in Denmark right now?"

"Well, I was there for a year. Did you actually think I would stay there forever?" Alice responded, shaking her head to show her disappointment in Souma's 'stupidity'. Truth was that Alice came back to Japan only to visit Erina, since she had missed her cousin and wanted to know how she was doing. She would travel back home in a few weeks, perhaps even months.

"Ah, Alice, you sure took your time," Joichirou said, putting his dish on a nearby table.

"Wait, pops, how do you know Alice?!"

"Hmph, ignorant as always. Don't you think it's logical for your father to know me as well when he knows Erina?" Alice mocked a devilish grin on her lips. Souma just looked dumbfounded with his face expression totally blank from confusion.

"Now, now, you can talk about that later. It's time for Souma to lose for the 498th time."

"Shut up!"

Souma glared daggers at his father as both of them served their dish. That day's theme was: sushi. Souma was quite surprised to hear it as well, when his father suggested it. It was definitely quite an odd choice, but also kind of brilliant at the same time. The 'critical' ingredient would not only be the choice of the fish, but also how to make the rice and correctly prepare the sushi nori without it being either to dry or to moist.

The tension rose as Alice slowly took a bite from both dishes, leaving all the people present in cheer suspense. There was no vacant reaction from Alice from any of the dishes. She just chewed away with her eyes closed and a very thoughtful expression on her face. Souma gulped in nervousness, it was actually quite rare not to get a reaction from someone. Usually it would show him where he stood and what his odds to win were, but Alice's face remained stone hard despite everyone knowing both of the dishes had to be delicious.

"Well, definitely heavenly good dishes. Both of you put a lot of thought into the sushi, which I could clearly taste. Yukihira Souma-kun, it was quite clever to keep rice a little warm instead letting it cooling off entirely like most people do. However," Alice said, looking up at Joichirou and grinning widely, "your father's dish didn't use sushi rice like most people do, he used, to my surprise, jasmine rice, rice with flavour so striking that if you make one mistake the rice could overwhelm all the other ingredients including the fish."

Souma already sighed. He tried as hard as he could to be creative as much as possible, since the element of the unexpected always made him score. But his old man took that to an entirely other level. Although Souma knew it required some guts to actually do something so spontaneously on the spot, or was it?

"So the winner for me personally would be Joichirou."

"Glad you liked it!"

"Hey, Pops, did you choose sushi on purpose so you could humiliate me with your jasmine substitute thing?" Souma asked, his left eyes twitching in annoyance.

"Ha, don't be ridiculous, why would I do that? Do you think I have no sportsmanship?"

 _"_ _Yeah, you freakin' don't have any, old man."_

"But anyways, only two more, Souma, and you'll officially have 500 on your record," Joichirou laughed, opening his little notebook and scribbling something in it and Souma of course like a mirror copied him and wrote little notes in his own notebook as well.

"I'll beat you next time!"

"Well, don't be a sore loser, Yukihira-kun," Alice teased, trying to cheer him a little. He was acting cool and just playfully angry, but she knew that with each loss Souma grew more and more frustrated. There was something hidden from him.

 _"_ _You'll figure it out, I'm sure of it."_

Alice and Ryo soon left and Yukihira diner was closed for the day. Souma and Joichirou cleaned up and washed all the dishes. Soon both of them were sitting at the table with a bottle of sake and glasses. It has more or less become a tradition after every cook-off to sit down over drinks, of course, when Souma was still a minor he would always just get apple juice.

"Look, Souma, your cooking has greatly improved. You were among the brightest stars at Totsuki, despite all that and the fact that you were a member of the Elite Ten, you still lack something, which in my opinion you just refuse to look for."

Souma raised an eyebrow. What could he possibly be missing? What could be so deal breaking that he hadn't taken notice of it until now?

"I thought you would figure out on your own, considering you had a great amount of friends back at the academy."

"Pops, I seriously have no idea what you're blabbering about," Souma began, "if you need to tell me something, just say it and don't go around the bush."

"You haven't found the person to whom you'll devote all your cooking to, Souma."

Just a gigantic question mark appeared in Souma's head. Heh? What was the old man talking about? Did he have a stroke? However, Joichirou's face stayed dead serious while telling Souma the 'secret to cooking', but he couldn't mean it! What has love to do with anything?!

"I don't think my cooking will improve if I get a girlfriend..."

"That's not about getting a girlfriend and whatnot, it's about finding the person, who you will want to give all your food to. It doesn't have to be your partner for all I know it could be your future dog or something. Listen to me, this is the true key to cooking. If you discover this, you'll be able to get even better, you'll experience a whole new view on cooking and trust me, it's quite the adventure."

"But I still don't unders-"

"Saiba-san!" A very high female voice called. Souma even flinched at the volume and both members of the Yukihira family turned their heads to the door, seeing who was yelling like a siren just a few seconds ago. It was someone Souma hasn't seen, since he graduated.

Nakiri Erina.

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 _REVIEW_

 **A/N Again, thanks for reading and a.k.a. Kusabi thanks for all the tips and about the popularity poll, I do find it odd that Takumi landed on third place, while Megumi got pushed to the fourth. I think the author doesn't do anything wrong, Takumi doesn't take a lot of screentime and it's the fanbase's choice who they like. I think people are growing tired of the sweet and shy type (I like them actually) and like more tsunderes (ironically since they're everywhere in anime now) and just the kind of people who don't really exist beside the anime world.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you very much for the favs, follows and reviews! I'll try my best to improve the story further!**

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"Oh, Erina-chan, what brings you here?" Joichirou asked, smiling warmly at the blond, who's face reddened from the greeting. She bowed a little as a proper sign of respect and smiled at the older man as well. Erina was glad. She was glad that she was allowed to see Joichirou whenever she wanted now. She had missed him greatly in her years at Tootsuki and now after so many years of separation she was able to meet with her idol who she admired, since she was a naïve child.

"Nakiri! Long time no see!"

Erina's face immediately flushed when she heard Souma's voice and she couldn't help but flinch a little. She had seen Joichirou every now and then, but it was a different story with Souma. Sure, they would bump into each other on the street, but it wasn't like they chatted when meeting. They both minded their own business and just continued with their task at hand. Truth to be said, Erina was more or less quite confused about the relationship she shared with Souma. There was tension between them from the very beginning when he first served her the egg dish at the entrance exams. They had been through a lot at Tootsuki and perhaps you could say they were even friends, but did it really end just there? As a friendship?

"Certainly it has been awhile," She said nonchalantly as if she wouldn't care in the slightest, though she did catch herself glancing at the redhead.

"So you came here to admit my food's delicious?"

"N-N-NO! H-How did y-y-you come up with that i-idea?!" Erina said, her facial expression totally flustered. She began to glare at Souma and found her inner peace being disrupted by Souma's bluntness once again.

"Come on, what other reason could you be here for?" Souma asked, still not understanding, how the bearer of the God's Tongue could admire his own father. Of course, Souma knew the best that his father must have been one among the best in the culinary world, but there were still better ones. He knew and his father knew it as well. Why was she so hung up on Joichirou again?

"Well, as unbelievably as it might seem, my dear grandfather has requested you to be one of the alumni for the first year training camp this year. He prefers more experienced and mature chefs, but he went quite crazy this time with his selection," Erina said, handing Souma a brown envelope, probably containing important information about the camp.

"As I have come to deliver the envelope, I'll take my leave," Erina said, bowing to Joichirou once more and making her way out of the family diner. However, as she opened the door she noticed the exit blocked by a tall figure.

"Oh, the God's Tongue, what a pleasurable surprise," A hoarse voice said, echoing from the door. Erina slowly looked up to be met with pink locks and a pair of eyes behind glasses staring down on her. Her eyes widened. She hadn't seen him since the training camp in her first year.

Shinomiya Koujiro.

"Yukihira!" Another familiar voice called, a flash of blond flickered in front of Erina's eyes and before she knew it, Aldini Takumi was already inside almost strangling down the redhead. One by one of the people outside the diner entered the building. There all of Souma's friends and senpais.

"Guys, what are you all doing all of the sudden?" Souma asked happy yet surprised to see everyone gathered in the little dinner.

"Like you we were all invited as alumni to the training camp. The headmaster insisted on the 92th generation to attend as the judges, since we definitely could use some new potential staff right now," Hayama Akira answered with his arms crossed over his chest. His hair had grown out even more in the last years, but he still kept it reasonably short, so he wouldn't have longer hair than Jun.

The room was so packed with people, Souma barely noticed a small petite figure standing at the door. Dark blue locks tied up in a high ponytail and poisonously amber eyes observed the redhead carefully. However, soon he did catch up and stared confused at the person, who he didn't quite recognize for a few seconds.

Then in hit him like an enormous truck.

"Tadokoro!" Souma cried out, pushing everyone to the side to make his way to his old classmate. But as he was approaching her, he felt a strange tickling in his gut. Something wasn't right here. Tadokoro didn't even smile when he called out to her. Her expression just stayed cold and emotionless.

"Hello, Yukihira-kun," Megumi replied, a bored expression on her face. Now that Souma was closer he did notice that Megumi was indeed quite different from what he remembered. It wasn't her looks that were different, she still was exactly the same like at Tootsuki, but the aura she had floating around her wasn't warm and welcoming, but cold and actually quite distant. She reminded him on Nakiri with this attitude.

"Huh? Why so formal, Tadokoro? Haven't you always called me Souma-kun?" The redhead joked, a little hurt that she wasn't calling him by his first name anymore. At first it was just on a whim, when he suggested that she called him by his first time, but after three years it gave him a feeling of reassurance and maybe even confidence, that Tadokoro would always be there and always be close to him as a friend.

"Go get a bottle of that fine wine we had earlier. We don't have any left and we can't have a nice meal with a good bottle of wine. It'd be rude to let our guests starve when they already went through the trouble to come to Yukihira diner," The older Yukihira interrupted, sending Souma out to buy in at the nearby wine shop.

"Wait up, Yukihira, I'll go with you," Shinomiya suddenly said, taking his coat and walking out with Souma into the pitch dark night. The two chefs walked in silence for a while, but Souma then decided to break the ice, since it was getting quite awkward.

"What do you need to talk about? You wouldn't have gone with me, if it hadn't involved something important."

"It's about Megumi."

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 _REVIEW_

 **A/N Short, I know, but school is busting my apples right now, so I don't really have time for creative writing. But holiday are approaching, so I'll try my best to continue. (I'll do the grammar and spelling check later... :D)**


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